The Tragedy and Success of the Commons in Rural Ghana

Found at: https://hdl.handle.net/10535/7323
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Type:	Conference Paper
Author:	Francesconi, Gian Nicola
Conference:	Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Our Future, the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons
Location:	Hyderabad, India
Conf. Date:	January 10-14
Date:	2011
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/10535/7323
Sector:	General & Multiple Resources
Region:	Africa
Subject(s):	tragedy of the commons rural affairs
Abstract:	"The empirical evidence and simulations presented in this paper go in support of neo-institutional theory in claiming that the 'commons' are not always associated with 'tragedy', but when the right externalities are in place they can be viable alternatives to exclusive privatization or inefficient public ownership. This is especially true in Ghana, which has, like many other African countries, a large and diverse population of farmer based organizations (FBOs), ranging from old-school agricultural cooperatives to more informal and fluid organizational forms. Through collective action, Ghanaian FBOs contribute to enhance and enforce local indigenous institutions defining and allocating property rights, as well as to improve social welfare, agri-business and access to public goods across rural communities. However, collective action does not always occur in FBOs. Whenever good governance or strong leadership are not in place, internal conflicts or collective shirking respectively arise to the detriment of organizational success."

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